Texas is standing by its rule against providing Medicaid funds to abortion providers, which means Planned Parenthood will not be receiving its annual $17 million.
Gov. Rick Perry and Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs are following the legislative intent of SB 7 by supporting the rule that excludes Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid Women's Health Program. That measure passed during the June 2011 special session.
More than 1,000 sources in Texas are available to provide preventative medical services like mammograms, and according to Dr. Joe Pojman of the Texas Alliance for Life, they do a better job than Planned Parenthood. Even so, he notes, President Barack Obama is standing by the abortion provider.
"The Obama administration is threatening to kill this program, which is providing preventative health services to thousands of women of Texas every year, because Texas refuses to fund Planned Parenthood," Dr. Pojman explains. "Basically, the Obama administration may kill this program because Texas does not want our tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood, and we think that's a great travesty."
The program expires at the end of March. Texas HHSC has reapplied to the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for an extension through 2013. But since the state does not fully fund the nation's largest abortion provider, there is a good chance that the administration will not grant the request.
"If the Obama administration carries forward with its threats to kill this program, it's going to mean that the Obama administration is going to be denying preventative healthcare to low-income women of Texas, simply because we don't want our tax dollars here in Texas going to abortion providers," the pro-lifer summarizes.
But Pojman asserts that Texas' policy makes sense because Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms or cancer treatment. He contends the only time a woman sees a doctor at Planned Parenthood in Texas is when she is going to have an abortion.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
